Centre for the Study of the Viking Age
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John Baker

Associate Professor in Name-Studies, Faculty of Arts

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Expertise Summary

My expertise is in name-studies, with particular focus on place-names and their potential as tools for understanding past landscapes and medieval society and culture. My research and publications include etymological analyses as well as (collaborative) interdisciplinary explorations and I am particularly interested in developing methodologies that incorporate multiple disciplines.

Outreach and Public Engagement

I have contributed to public engagement and knowledge exchange activities associated with various projects, most recently The Place-Names of Shropshire (funded by the AHRC, 2013-16), and Learning the Landscape through Language (AHRC Follow-on Funding, 2019-21), working with schoolteachers and other educators in Shropshire. I am also currently involved in the Nottingham Schools, City and Slavery project (QR Funding, 2020-21), and the Place-Names of Staffordshire project, working with volunteers in Stafford and Lichfield.

Recent public talks and events include: 'Exploring the place-names of southern Shropshire' (with Jayne Carroll), St Laurence's Church, Ludlow, 19 November 2019; U3A Study Day focusing on place-names (with colleagues from the INS), University Park, Nottingham, 26 June 2018; 'Assembling Vikings: Thinking through Things in the East Midlands', part of the Bringing Vikings Back to the East Midlands lecture series at Lakeside Arts Centre, University of Nottingham, 6 December 2017.

Teaching Summary

My teaching focuses on name-studies and medieval languages and history.

Undergraduate modules taught

At Level 1 I contribute to Beginnings of English, one of our core modules, and to The Viking World. I teach on the Names and Identities module at Level 2 and the English Place-Names module at Level 3, as well as supervising undergraduate dissertations.

Postgraduate modules taught

At MA level I teach Research Methods in Viking and Early Medieval English Studies, and Place-Names in Context.

Postgraduate supervision

I welcome students interested in name-studies, particularly any aspect of place-name research, or students hoping to use onomastic evidence effectively as part of an interdisciplinary methodology.

Research Summary

I am based in the Institute for Name-Studies, and my research focuses on English place-names and the use of onomastic evidence in multi- and interdisciplinary approaches, especially in the study of… read more

Recent Publications

  • J. BAKER and J. CARROLL, 2020. The Place-Names of Shropshire. Part 8: Overs Hundred, the Borough of Ludlow, the Southern Part of Munslow Hundred, and the Stowe Division of Purslow Hundred. English Place-Name Society.
  • JOHN BAKER and JAYNE CARROLL, 2020. The Afterlives of Bede’s Tribal Names in English Place-names. In: A. LANGLANDS and R. LAVELLE, eds., Saints, Rulers and Landscapes: Early Medieval Studies in Honour of Barbara Yorke Brill. 112-53
  • JOHN BAKER, 2019. 'Meeting in the shadow of heroes? Personal names and the socio-political background of assembly places. In: JAYNE CARROLL, ANDREW REYNOLDS and BARBARA YORKE, eds., Power and Place in Europe in the Early Middle Ages British Academy. 37-63
  • JOHN BAKER, 2018. The Place-Names of Shropshire. Part 7: Stottesdon Hundred and the Borough of Bridgnorth English Place-Name Society.

Areas of PhD supervision include etymological survey work on place-names and field-names in various parts of the country, analysis of the significance of place-names in understanding aspects of late Roman, medieval and Viking Age England, and interdisciplinary research on early medieval England and Viking settlements.

Current Research

I am based in the Institute for Name-Studies, and my research focuses on English place-names and the use of onomastic evidence in multi- and interdisciplinary approaches, especially in the study of medieval history and landscape. I supervise students with a focus on Name-Studies, medieval landscape and history, and Viking Studies.

Past Research

My principal area of research is in place-names, and I have published work on etymology and on the wider significance of names for our understanding of the evolution of the landscape. I am especially interested in early medieval society and culture, the ways in which the evidence of place-names can contribute to their study, and the potential for a rigorous onomastic approach to inform and clarify interpretations, supplementing and testing the evidence of other disciplines. Much of my work therefore explores ways of bringing together and comparing data from different disciplines and examines the limits and possibilities of interdisciplinary methodologies.

My early publications made particular use of archaeological and onomastic evidence to throw light on the early post-Roman period in Britain and the identifiable cultural changes, to examine the potential for these forms of data to be used successfully in conjunction, and to test the basis for existing theories on issues such as place-name chronology.

I have worked in the Institute for Name-Studies (INS) since 2005.

From 2005 to 2008 I was Research Fellow on the Beyond the Burghal Hidage project, a collaboration between the INS and UCL Institute of Archaeology, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The aim of this project was to develope a multidisciplinary methodology in order to assess the wider landscape context of Anglo-Saxon civil defensive initiatives.

From 2009 to 2012 I worked on another Leverhulme Trust-funded project, Landscapes of Governance, involving colleagues at the INS, UCL and the University of Winchester. This built on the approach established by Beyond the Burghal Hidage, examining early medieval sites of public judicial assembly across England.

From January 2013 to December 2017 I worked on the Place-Names of Shropshire, funded by the AHRC and involving colleagues at the Institute for Name-Studies and the University of Wales. The project will bring to completion the English Place-Name Society county survey of Shropshire, begun by the late Margaret Gelling in the 1960s, with the publication of the final five volumes.

  • J. BAKER and J. CARROLL, 2020. The Place-Names of Shropshire. Part 8: Overs Hundred, the Borough of Ludlow, the Southern Part of Munslow Hundred, and the Stowe Division of Purslow Hundred. English Place-Name Society.
  • JOHN BAKER and JAYNE CARROLL, 2020. The Afterlives of Bede’s Tribal Names in English Place-names. In: A. LANGLANDS and R. LAVELLE, eds., Saints, Rulers and Landscapes: Early Medieval Studies in Honour of Barbara Yorke Brill. 112-53
  • JOHN BAKER, 2019. 'Meeting in the shadow of heroes? Personal names and the socio-political background of assembly places. In: JAYNE CARROLL, ANDREW REYNOLDS and BARBARA YORKE, eds., Power and Place in Europe in the Early Middle Ages British Academy. 37-63
  • JOHN BAKER, 2018. The Place-Names of Shropshire. Part 7: Stottesdon Hundred and the Borough of Bridgnorth English Place-Name Society.
  • JOHN BAKER, 2017. Old English sǣte and the historical significance of 'folk'-names Early Medieval Europe. 25(4), 417-442
  • JOHN BAKER and STUART BROOKES, 2017. Gateways, gates and gatu: liminal spaces at the centre of things. In: S. SEMPLE, C. ORSINI and S. MUI, eds., Life on the Edge: Social, Religious and Political Frontiers in Early Medieval Europe Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum with the Internationales Sachsensymposion. 253-262
  • JOHN BAKER and STUART BROOKES, 2016. Explaining Anglo-Saxon military efficiency: the landscape of mobilization Anglo-Saxon England. 44, 9 (In Press.)
  • J. BAKER, 2016. 'The wider environment of Shropshire place names' [abstract]. In: CAROLE HOUGH, ed., Names and their Environment: Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, Glasgow, 25–29 August 2014 1. University of Glasgow. 68
  • JOHN BAKER and STUART BROOKES, 2015. Identifying outdoor assembly sites in early medieval England Journal of Field Archaeology. 40(1), 1
  • JOHN BAKER and STUART BROOKES, 2015. Overseeing the Sea: Some West Saxon responses to waterborne threats in the south-east. In: STACY S. KLEIN, WILLIAM SHIPPER and SHANNON LEWIS-SIMPSON, eds., The Maritime World of the Anglo-Saxons Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 37-58
  • JOHN BAKER, 2015. The *Meresǣte of northwest Shropshire Notes and Queries. 62(2), 207-11
  • JOHN BAKER, 2015. Entomological etymologies: invertebrates in English place-names. In: MICHAEL BINTLEY and THOMAS WILLIAMS, eds., Representing Beasts in Early Medieval England and Scandinavia The Boydell Press. 229-252 (In Press.)
  • JOHN BAKER, 2015. OE sǣta and sǣtan names Journal of the English Place-Name Society. 46, 45-81
  • JOHN BAKER, 2015. Hertfordshire hundreds: names and places. In: KRIS LOCKYEAR, ed., Archaeology in Hertfordshire: Recent Research: A Festschrift for Tony Rook University of Hertfordshire Press. 253-74
  • JOHN BAKER and STUART BROOKES, 2015. Landscapes of violence in early medieval Wessex: towards a reassessment of Anglo-Saxon strategic landscapes. In: RYAN LAVELLE and SIMON ROFFEY, eds., Danes in Wessex: The Scandinavian Impact on Southern England, c. 800–c. 1100 Oxbow. 70-85
  • JOHN BAKER and STUART BROOKES, 2015. Signalling intent: beacons, lookouts and military communications. In: MAREN CLEGG HYER and GALE R. OWEN-CROCKER, eds., The Material Culture of the Built Environment in the Anglo-Saxon World: Daily Living in the Anglo-Saxon World 2 216-34
  • JOHN BAKER, 2015. Review of G.R. Owen-Crocker and B.W. Schneider (eds), 2013. Kingship, Legislation and Power in Anglo-Saxon England, Woodbridge: Boydell Landscape History. 36(1), 102-3
  • JOHN BAKER and STUART BROOKES, 2014. Outside the gate: sub-urban legal practices in early medieval England World Archaeology. 1-15
  • JOHN BAKER, 2014. The Toponymy of Communal Activity: Anglo-Saxon Assembly Sites and their Functions. In: JOAN TORT I DONADA, ed., Els noms en la vida quotidiana.: Actes del XXIV Congrés Internacional d’ICOS sobre Ciències Onomàstiques. Annex. Secció 7 1498–1509
  • BAKER, J., 2013. The language of Anglo-Saxon defence. In: BAKER, J., BROOKES, S. and REYNOLDS, A., eds., Landscapes of defence in Early Medieval Europe Brepols. 65-90
  • BAKER, J., BROOKES, S. and REYNOLDS, A., eds., 2013. Landscapes of Defence in Early Medieval Europe Turnhout: Brepols.
  • JOHN BAKER and STUART BROOKES, 2013. Monumentalising the political landscape: a special class of Anglo-Saxon assembly-sites Antiquaries Journal. 93, 147-162
  • JOHN BAKER and STUART BROOKES, 2013. Governance at the Anglo-Scandinavian interface: hundredal organization in the southern Danelaw Journal of the North Atlantic Special Volume: The Assembly Project: Meeting Places in Northern Europe AD 400–1500. 5, 76-95
  • JOHN BAKER, 2013. References to timber building materials in Old English place-names. In: M.D. BINTLEY and M.G. SHAPLAND, eds., Trees, Timber and Woodland in the Anglo-Saxon World Oxford University Press.
  • BAKER, J. and BROOKES, S., 2013. Beyond the Burghal Hidage: Anglo-Saxon civil defence in the Viking age Brill.
  • JOHN BAKER, 2013. Review of A. Rowe and T. Williamson, 2013. Hertfordshire: a landscape history, Hatfield: Hertfordshire Publications Journal of the English Place-Name Society. 45, 58-61
  • BAKER, J., 2012. What makes a stronghold? Reference to construction materials in place-names in OE fæsten, burh and (ge)weorc. In: JONES, R. and SEMPLE, S., eds., Sense of Place in Anglo-Saxon England Shaun Tyas. 316-333
  • BAKER, J. and BROOKES, S., 2012. Fulham 878-79: a new consideration of Viking manoeuvres Viking and Medieval Scandinavia. 8, 23-52
  • LYNDA MALLETT, STUART REDDISH, JOHN BAKER, STUART BROOKES and ANDY GAUNT, 2012. Community Archaeology at Thynghowe, Birklands, Sherwood Forest Transactions of the Thoroton Society: The Journal for Nottinghamshire History and Archaeology. 116, 53-71
  • BAKER, J., BROOKES, S. and REYNOLDS, A., 2011. Landscapes of Governance: Assembly sites in England, 5th-11th centuries Post Classical Archaeologies. 1, 499-502
  • BAKER, J. and BROOKES, S., 2011. From frontier to border: the evolution of northern West Saxon territorial delineation in the ninth and tenth centuries Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History. 17, 104-119
  • BAKER, J., 2011. Warriors and watchmen: place-names and Anglo-Saxon civil defence Medieval Archaeology. 55, 258-267
  • BAKER, J., BROOKES, S. and REYNOLDS, A., 2011. The law of the land: finding early medieval assembly sites British Archaeology. 120, 46-49
  • JOHN BAKER, 2011. Review of P. Cullen, R. Jones and D.N. Parson, 2011, Thorps in a Changing Landscape (Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press) Journal of the English Place-Name Society. 43, 82-84
  • JOHN BAKER, 2011. Review of N.J. Higham and M.J. Ryan eds, 2011, Place-Names, Language and the Anglo-Saxon Landscape (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) The Medieval Review.
  • JOHN BAKER, 2009. Review of D. Postles, 2007, The North Through its Names, (Oxford, Oxbow) Landscapes. 10(1), 143-144
  • BAKER, J., 2008. Old English fæsten. In: PADEL, O. and PARSONS, D., eds., A Commodity of Good Names: Essays in Honour of Margaret Gelling Donington: Shaun Tyas. 333-344
  • JOHN BAKER, 2008. Review of S. Yeates, 2006, Religion, Community and Territory: Defining Religion in the Severn Valley and Adjacent Hills from the Iron Age to the Early Medieval Period, 3 vols, BAR British Series 411(i-iii), (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2006) Journal of the English Place-Name Society. 40, 140-144
  • JOHN BAKER, 2007. Review of S. Draper, 2006, Landscape, Settlement and Society in Roman and Early Medieval Wiltshire BAR British Series 419 (Oxford: Archaeolpress) Journal of the English Place-Name Society. 39, 333-344
  • BAKER, J.T., 2006. Cultural transition in the Chilterns and Essex region, 350 AD to 650 AD Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.
  • BAKER, J., 2006. Topographical place-names and the distribution of tūn and hām in the Chilterns and Essex Region Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History. 50-62
  • JOHN BAKER, 2005. Review of A. Barclay, G.Lambrick, J. Moore and M. Robinson, 2003, Lines in the Landscape: Cursus monuments in the Upper Thames valley (Oxford Archaeology Unit, Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph No. 15, Oxford) Journal of the English Place-Name Society. 37, 66-67
  • BAKER, J., 2004. The distribution of tūn in the Chilterns and Essex region Journal of the English Place-Name Society. 36, 5-22
  • JOHN BAKER, 2004. Review of G. Malcolm and D. Bowsher, 2003, Middle Saxon London, (London: MoLAS Monograph 15) Journal of the English Place-Name Society. 36, 95-7

Centre for the Study of the Viking Age

Trent Building
The University of Nottingham
University Park

telephone: +44 (0) 115 951 5900
fax: +44 (0) 115 951 5924
email: csva@nottingham.ac.uk